A Miracle

« In the name of the national interest and
in order to preserve peace and prevent a return to chaos and
violence, I undertake, in the eyes of God, the nation and history,
the responsibility to lead, with your consent, a strong and
republican opposition »
Jean Pierre Bemba

Those familiar with my articles for Friends of the
Congo know how much antipathy I feel for the government and
the political actors in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but
events this past few weeks mean that hopefully I will be eating
humble pie for the next five years. In the last article I wrote,
I predicted that the elections will end in chaos and more warfare
as the signs were that neither candidate would accept defeat,
and in this case it seemed as if Bemba and his supporters had
opted for military confrontation, tension was high in Kinshasa
and Bemba kept saying “I will accept the results if the
elections are free and fair” the fact that he accused
the body responsible for organizing the elections, the Commission
Electorale Indepandente (Independent Electoral Commission-CEI)
of bias towards Kabila made me and many other observers feel
the worst. On November 28th Bemba surprised everyone and declared
that though he still felt that he had been cheated he would,
for the sake of the nation, lead a republican and peaceful political
opposition. More than a victory for Kabila or a defeat for Bemba
this was a victory for Congo, true Kabila is not the best President
but after what Bemba has done we have to accept that he is not
the Devil incarnate and give him a chance, maybe he to can surprise
us. This is a victory for the DRC because if this peace holds
and Bemba sticks to his promise we will have turn a bloody page
of our history, the era where political violence and war were
accepted means of acquiring power will be over.

True these elections were not the fairest, there were foreign
troops on our soil, insecurity in the East and assassination
attempts on one of the candidates but considering where we come
from the outcome, if it holds, will be nothing short of a miracle.
But I want to thank Mr. Bemba for his leadership, in an unpublished
article I wrote that the political class of Congo was without
talent, without leadership. However, despite his many flows,
Bemba has shown great leadership make no mistakes about it his
acceptance of Kabila’s victory comes at a great political,
economic and potentially safety cost for him. Political because
many of the sponsors of “congolite ” who had supported
Bemba against the “foreigner” Kabila are now calling
for his head, an important part of his political alliance pressed
him to go to war against Kabila knowing that in Kinshasa, where
Bemba is extremely popular, they would prevail or at least make
the situation so untenable for Kabila that some kind of compromise
would have to be found, now they are saying that Bemba was either
bought by Kabila or scared off by “Westerners” who
want to exploit Congo furthermore Bemba by losing his position
in the government Bemba loses an assets necessary to provide
services to his patronage network. Economic because of the many
perks that he loses by giving up his cabinet post, and safety
because as the event of August proved he might be targeted by
Kabila. In Gettysburg: A Meditation on War and Values American
historian Kent Graham defines duty as follow: “ because
duty is always a requirement of the future, often without reward
for the doer, and often entailling sacrifice. The sacrifice
is made for those to come.” Clearly Bemba made a sacrifice
and, surprisingly, showed himself to be a man of duty. Of course
he is not the messiah all of a sudden but the point is he was
never the Devil either, some have suggested that Bemba only
did that because of threats from the West or he took a bribe
this does not matter the for the fact is he is doing that and
giving Congolese and incredible opportunity to become a true
democracy.

So does this means that the struggle is over, I think not but
what we are faced with is no longer war but some straightforward
civic, social and political rights issues. We now have a constitutional
framework which gives legal avenues to fight for those rights.
Of course the government will resist calls for better wage,
better education, better working conditions for miners, they
will resist calls for more transparency in the management of
the country’s natural resources, throughout history rights
have not been given they have been taken, be it for the African
American community in America, women, miners every exploited
group has had to fight for their rights today thanks to the
new political order ushered in by the much maligned international
community there is a legal framework on which to act, it will
require sacrifices but nothing in this world is free. There
are still enormous problems, for example the management of the
enormous mineral wealth of Katanga, estimated to have the capacity
to produce $ 300 billion in the next 25 years, which Clive Newall
the CEO of Canadian firm First Quantum has called “..the
holly grail of the copper industry. ” there has been criticism
of contracts awarded by Kabila to foreign companies during the
transition he has promised to review those since but already
Belgium’s Foreign Minister Karel de Gucht has warned that
“the contracts should not be touched otherwise we risk
endangering the whole industry ” it is up to the Congolese
and when I say Congolese I mean all Congolese regardless of
race, ethnicity or language, I mean anyone that feels Congolese
and wants to contribute to the development of the country to
make sure Kabila holds his promise and we need to continue to
inform people around the world about abuses taking place in
the Congo, we need to name the companies and the people that
are enslaving Congolese, and Congolese should be at the forefront
of that effort.

The responsibility to build a just society in the Congo does
not lie in Brussels, Paris or Washington, it lies within every
Congolese, and it is our duty. Without an informed citizenry
there is no true democracy, so Congolese in the Diaspora and
back home must act together to further the education of our
countrymen, we must stop complaining all the time, we have to
stand up and be counted. We need teachers, we need doctors,
we need engineers, civil right activist that is what it will
take we can not count on the government to solve all our problems,
and we ask every friends of the Congo to help us in this Endeavour.